I was walking in downtown Montgomery the other day and I saw a small plant growing up from the crack of the sidewalk. That little plant (probably a weed!) was about to bloom even though it was surrounded by a sea of concrete. It found the tiniest piece of fertile soil it could and bloomed! It got me thinking about life and my life in particular.
How Do You Define Success?
My life has not always been easy. In fact, I’ve experienced a lot of challenges but I have always looked to find the best in my situations and tried to bloom wherever I was planted. There are a lot of ways the world defines success. Sometimes it's about your bank account…sometimes it is your job status…sometimes success is recognition…but I believe that success is something totally different.
I believe success is defined like this: I’m doing the best I can…wherever I am…with whatever I have …and I believe it all as well as my strength to be gifted by God. His plan for my life is more than I can hope or dream.
Blooming Where You Are Planted No Matter the Circumstances…
I gave birth to my first child two weeks before my high school graduation and while young motherhood and the stride to independence were not easy, I was blessed with one of the best villages ever.
Two children later, my husband was incarcerated… leaving me to be a married “single parent”. Talk about challenging! Managing that, growing with them, and attempting to start and run a business was filled with stress, worry, insecurities, and yes at times loneliness.
Opening the doors of my first brick and mortar was exciting until I realized that if there were business hours on the door, I had to work them or hire someone even though customers weren’t by any means flooding in. So I began looking for trucks and buses and buses and trucks. At this point anything that would allow me the freedom to take this show on the road and still manage motherhood and life. More challenges.
I often say that “There’s one thing to have a dream and no resources,” but I was blessed enough to have both which is what has led me to firmly believe that God’s timing is perfect. Even though I had the money to make the purchase of a bus or truck,, none of the options seemed to be right for me. So right before I met with a good friend of mine to participate in an online auction, I prayed this exact prayer “Lord, I know that you told me to do this, well at least I think that you told me to do this, but if you didn’t then after tonight I will stop looking. I’ll work some dumb job that I’m probably gonna hate but if that is your plan for me then I’m with it.”
Needless to say. I found a truck for half my budget and used the other half to get it here. The dream has been growing ever since!
This is only half of my story….I will be sharing more in the future but for now, I want to leave you with this.
The Legacy of Madam C.J. Walker…
Madam CJ Walker, also known as Sarah Breedlove was born in the south just two years after the end of slavery. This beautiful African American woman knew what it was like to overcome adversity and bloom where you are planted.
Orphaned at the age of 7….
Widowed at the age of 16, she married again and worked as a laundress. She remarried and her husband discouraged her from ever becoming anything more.
As difficult as life was for her, she then developed a scalp disorder that caused her to lose most of her hair. Instead of allowing this heartbreak to defeat her, she began experimenting with home remedies to help restore her hair.
Sarah Breedlove then turned her own hair care inventions and turned them into a business. Knowing the trauma of hair loss, especially on African American women, she took her own pain and refused to give in, truly blooming where she was planted.
Sarah Breedlove created “Madam CJ Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower” and became the first female African American millionaire!
Success is doing the best you can…wherever you are…with whatever you have …Madam CJ Walker did that. I am trying every day to do that. What is your story? How have you turned adversity into success? I want to hear your story and celebrate you! Contact us here, tag us on Facebook or Instagram, or stop by the store for a beautiful face-to-face chat. We would love to see you and hear how you are blooming where you are planted!
